The field of the invention pertains to roller skating and, in particular, to accessories for serious in-line roller skating activities. In-line roller skates comprise skates having a plurality of wheels (usually four) mounted one behind the other in the nature of a blade analogous to ice skate blades.
In-line roller skating has become increasingly popular in recent years in part because in-line skates are well suited to outdoor skating on pavement and much more maneuverable than two by two roller skates. Thus, in-line roller skates can be skated more like ice skates and similar speeds attained on relatively smooth pavements. As a result, activities common on ice are now being attempted on concrete, asphalt and other pavements.
Contact at speed with most pavements causes effects generally much more severe than contact with ice. Primarily, contact at speed of the hand, hip or knee, whether accidental or purposeful, stops the vertical component of motion almost instantaneously whether on ice or pavement, however, on ice the innate slippery surface permits the horizontal component of motion to continue almost unabated. Thus, ice skaters, figure skaters and hockey players take many falls and only rarely undergo serious injury. Figure skaters and hockey players are specifically coached on proper falling techniques and may practice these techniques to avoid injury.
However, most pavements are not so forgiving. With the purposefully non-slippery surface of most pavements, the horizontal component of motion is brought to a halt by high friction almost as quickly as the vertical component. Thus, injury or significant damage to clothing is substantially more likely with falls in in-line roller skating and, even with protective equipment such as the gloves of hockey players, falls on pavement are rarely purposely practiced. For instance, hockey clothing and gloves can protect against some injury by the pavement, in particular, severe abrasions and bruising, however, the sudden horizontal halt can cause severe damage to joints, bones, tendons and muscles that wouldn't likely occur with a similar fall on ice. With multiple falls traditional hockey clothing and gloves may be ruined unacceptably fast.
If purposeful falling techniques are attempted and practiced in conventional hockey clothing and gloves, or other traditional in-line skate protective gear, the cloth is quickly abraded and shredded by the pavement. In an attempt to overcome the effects of abrasion somewhat, "cap-shaped" knee pads of molded nylon, polyethylene or ABS plastic are riveted or sewn to the clothing to protect both the knees and the clothing. With a number of falls these hard knee pads become severely abraded and the permanent fastenings (rivets and stitching) tend to tear loose, substantially destroying the usefulness of the protective garment.
A device typically called "wrist guards" is currently offered to in-line roller skaters. These comprise a cloth band about the wrist with a piece of curved hard plastic attached under the wrist generally extending over the heel of the hand. Such wrist protectors splint the wrist with a second hard piece atop the wrist preventing full freedom of movement of the hand.
Some individuals have experimented with gloves having a large piece of polycarbonate plastic permanently attached to the palm of the hand. The hard and tough polycarbonate plastic provides significantly greater protection from abrasion than the normal leather or cloth palm. However, plastic plates permanently fastened to the palms and of sufficient size to protect the gloves and hands against sliding abrasion make the gloves difficult to remove and greatly interfere with grip if not removed. Moreover, the positions of the plates on the gloves cannot be altered because of the permanent attachment. These hand protection devices are relatively heavy, and because they are so cumbersome, are not practical for use by in-line skaters.
The applicant, having been confronted with the almost total lack of any accessories suitable for accidental or purposeful sliding on pavement by in-line skaters, has developed performance enhancing accessories as described below to permit aggressive in-line roller skating and aggressive in-line street hockey playing with more of the speeds, thrills and falls of ice hockey and tournament skating.